Data intelligence

The FTE staff Total HEI for University College London appear blank within the data. This is due to some component parts of this total being returned as blank rather than zero. Staff FTE is not a mandatory item within the Estates Management Statistics return so all providers with blank Staff FTE have chosen not to supply this data. Caution should be taken when analysing staff FTE data within the EMS return.

The University of York has reported that the following staff counts have been returned as null for 2012/13 and that this data will be fixed for 2013/14: Support offices staff FTE and Support not offices staff FTE.

The Central School of Speech and Drama has omitted staff FTE data from their 2012/13 Estates Management record return in error. This has resulted in the following ratios appearing as null: Water consumption per student and staff FTE; Waste mass per student and staff FTE; Academic office net internal area per academic staff FTE' Support office net internal area per support office staff FTE; Gross internal area in metre² per student and staff full-time equivalent (FTE); Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions per student and staff full-time equivalent (FTE).

The University of Huddersfield’s Oldham campus staff, were transferred to Oldham College in 2012/13, affecting the inflow / outflow figures for academic staff.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine made a separate staff return to HESA from 2013/14, previously their HESA staff return was made through The University of Liverpool. This had an impact on the inflow and outflow of staff for these two HE providers.

The University of Huddersfield’s Barnsley campus were transferred to Barnsley College in 2013/14, affecting the inflow / outflow figures for academic staff.

In 2016/17,  Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance incorrectly reported staff numbers in several cost centres. The most noticeable of these was cost centre 114 Music, dance, drama & performing arts, which was overreported by approximately 35.

Due to the merger between the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Swansea Metropolitan University, 590 (264.69 FTE) staff have been omitted from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David staff submission for 2012/13 (all previously Swansea Metropolitan University staff).

The breakdown of staff is as follows: 370 Academic staff (120.24 FTE), 225 Non-academic staff (144.45 FTE). (Headcounts have been rounded)

From 2014/15, for new entrants, the last provider attended field (PREVINST) must contain a valid UKPRN or a valid generic code (see the HESA coding manual for details), rather than the historic UCAS, department and HESA school codes. These have been mapped to school type and grouped up to form the state school marker where appropriate. Where an unknown or invalid PREVINST code has been supplied, these students have been excluded from the calculations of the state school indicator. Due to the changes in the coding frame there is likely to an impact on the quality of the school type data.

Due to data coding issues relating to the state school indicator, Arden University have been excluded from this analysis (applicable to table series T1).

The University of Salford reported a deficit of £9,075k in the year 2011/12 against a surplus of £345k in 2010/11. This has resulted in some high level changes between years in respect of Head 3, 9, 10, 13 and 14. A major restructuring was undertaken which resulted in a high level of exceptional costs in year, contributing to this deficit and the reported high level movement between years in Head 7. The University also accelerated depreciation on assets, for which there are plans now in place for disposal, and disposed of some assets in year. This impacted on the overall results and in particular the change between years in respect of Head 11 and 12.

In 2020/21, University of London (Institutes and activities) returned University of London distance learning students studying in the UK for the first time resulting in a large increase in First degree, Other undergraduate and Postgraduate student numbers.

In 2021/22, by agreement between the University of Northampton, HESA/JISC and the OfS, because of data quality concerns in relation to students at a partner organisation, around 700 student records were excluded from this return.

The FTEs in Loughborough University return have been overstated for 2008/09. The issue relates to students on non-standard years (i.e. where the year of instance is not completed in one HESA reporting year). All students reported as being active in 2008/09 have been recorded as studying with an FTE of 1, rather than split according to the actual load undertaken in the reporting year. In the main this has over-reported students on full-time PGT programmes.

The Open University in 2013/14 has seen a decrease in the number of new student instances of study (21%), considerably larger than the decrease in new students (individuals) (6%). HESA data counts instances of study rather than individual students.

The larger decrease in instance count is mainly reflective of changing behaviour of continuing students following the funding regime changes in 2012/13 and changes to university systems which impact on the number of new instances created for continuing students. There is a decreasing tendency for returning students to resume study towards a new qualification, i.e. on a new instance. Changes to the university’s HESA reporting systems mean e.g. that students gaining an intermediate qualification on the way to getting a first degree are reported on the same instance rather than a new instance as in previous years.

The majority of alternative providers are subject to student number controls which vary from year to year, therefore their undergraduate student numbers in each academic year reflect this.

In 2015/16, West London College were required to return data to the Alternative provider record but failed to submit this in time to HESA.

In 2017/18, student data was expected from EThames Graduate School Limited, Grafton College and London College of Creative Media Limited. However students at these providers are not included in the 2017/18 AP student record.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2019/20 many providers issued public statements that a 'no detriment' approach would be adopted when it came to assessment. This typically ensured that students would be awarded a final grade no lower than the most recent provider assessment of their attainment. Additionally, a few providers who experienced administrative hold ups related to the COVID-19 pandemic which began in the 2019/20 academic year. As such, qualifications that were not reported in the 2019/20 academic year were carried over to 2020/21, resulting in a decrease of student qualifiers in 2019/20 relative to the previous academic year, followed by an increase in 2020/21. 

The Institute of Continuing Education at The University of Cambridge records enrolments by module, but its student record system is currently unable to capture separately the overall JACS programme of study for the unique course entity requirement. Consequently, for 2008/09, all 3,815 part-time other undergraduate students have been recorded as combined subject of study.

In 2021/22, The University of Sussex saw an increase in Subtotal IP income (£000s) from 21 in 2020/21 to 1,711 in 2021/22 due to income from the sale of University shares in ReViral as a consequence of the purchase of ReViral by Pfizer.

The University of Keele misreported D78e.C13: Sum of non-residential GIA (D11(C13)) in DEC or EPC category E Total non-residential in their 2011/12 Estate Management Statistics return. The figure has been suppressed from the main table. The corrected figure is as follows:

D78e.C13: Sum of Non-Residential GIA (D11(C13)) in DEC or EPC category E Total Non-Residential (m2) = 13412 m2.

D38c.C01b: Energy emissions Total HEI – Gas .

In 2016/17, Manchester Metropolitan University incorrectly reported some figures within the Finance record Table 6, sections 1 and 2. The correct figures are as follows:

• 1 HE Course fees
  • 1a Home domiciled students
    • 1ai Full-time undergraduate - Source of fees Other = £5,292K
  • 2 Non-credit bearing course fees - Total £2,543K